Gallican Rite

The Gallican Rite is actually a family of Western Rites which comprised the majority use of most of Western European for the greater part of the 1st millenium. The rite first developed in the early centuries as the Syriac-Greek rites of Jerusalem and Antioch were first translated into Latin in various parts of the Roman West.

Various rites within the greater Gallican family claim various specific lineages, such as an origin from the Alexandrine rite of St. Mark for the Churches of Aquilea and Milan, or origins from the Ephesine rite of St. John the Divine for the Churches of Gaul, Iberia, and Brittania. Many Gallican texts survive, but the survival of the rite is mostly in its influence upon the present Roman and Anglican rites (called Gallo-Roman), as a component of the Ambrosian rite of Milan. The last surviving "pure" Gallican rite is the Mozarabic rite of Toledo, Spain which has been limited to a few chapels for the past few centuries. The Gallican rites are more extravagant than the Roman, the music more melismatic, the words richer, more profuse, and dramatic. The surviving Gallican materials also have recognizable concordances with the Eastern and Oriental rites in the form of certain prayers and ceremonial, owing to its shared ancient origin in the original rites of the Holy Land.